Hot Handles
by Delfinos
Summary: So here they were. It was after lunchtime on possibly the hottest day of the year and Sabrina was about to teach an Everafter over 4000 years old the inter-workings of riding a bike. If someone had told Sabrina a couple of years ago that she'd be doing this for the boy, she would have laughed in their face. It didn't feel as strange as she hoped it would. Puck/Sabrina.


A/N: I haven't written in years, not to mention I haven't published anything on here in years (oops), but I saw this as a prompt on tumblr and my mind drifted to one of my first and favorite ships. I wrote this in a couple of hours, so nothing serious. :)

* * *

"The one time I do something nice for him and he's late." Sabrina muttered to herself, shielding her eyes to scout the mid afternoon sky. No fairy boys in sight, just billowing white clouds and a blistering sun that made the girl want to head back inside after being under its gaze for only a few minutes. Granny Relda had commented that this summer was unusually hot for Ferryport Landing, though the old woman didn't seem to mind either way. Sabrina on the other hand shifted irritably as the cotton of her Bad Apples shirt stuck to the skin of her back. Just as she was about to give up and turn to walk back up the road to the house there was a breeze and Puck landed besides her, his pink wings flapping in the humid air before retracting.

Sabrina fixed him with a frown and said nothing, instead tapping the glass face of the watch on her wrist. Puck looked down at the watch and then flashed her a grin.

"I'm here aren't I? You should be thankful that I even graced you with my presence instead of pouting."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "You know, when someone offers to do something for you, the least you can do is be on time. It's hot out here!"

"Its not too bad," Puck retorted in his usual argumentative manner, though his gaze was focused on the object behind the girl, his expression inquisitive.

Sabrina gestured to her red bicycle propped up next to her. "Eager to start?"

The girl had first noticed Puck's interest in the bike when she had gotten it for her most recent birthday. It was bigger than her last, painted a shimmering apple red with black detailing. Daphne had immediately squeaked when she saw it, as that meant she would receive Sabrina's old bike for herself. Two days later, the little girl had decorated the bike with sparkly neon stickers and attached a wicker basket between the handles, suiting it for her tastes. She even had Mr. Canis of all the people in the house help her repaint it hot pink.

A few mornings after her birthday while Sabrina was waiting for the bathroom to open up, Puck had came to wait in line with her. He wasn't as subtle as he thought he was being, as Sabrina noticed his excited energy radiating from him like he was a can of soda that had just been shaken.

"So, now that you have a brand new bike, what's going to happen to your old one?" Puck had asked her, trying to be nonchalant. Sabrina was surprised he was even up to talking at all, in the mornings he was usually more sluggish than her sister was.

"It's Daphne's now, she's finishing pimping it out with glitter today I think." Sabrina raised an eyebrow at him. "Why do you care?"

Puck spluttered. "I don't! I'm just trying to start conversation to pass time while waiting on your toilet-hogging uncle." The arrogant fairy shoved past Sabrina to go over and pound relentlessly on the bathroom door. The two were met with Uncle Jacob's groan telling them it might be awhile.

"If you really want, I can let you borrow my new bike sometimes. Daphne's is too little for you." Sabrina stated, shrugging her shoulders. She told herself she was only offering to keep the Everafter's temper in check, as his nostrils were flared up and she wouldn't put it past him if he transformed into a bull and crashed through the wooden door. But somewhere deep down she knew it'd make him happy, even if he never admitted it.

Puck had turned to her, his expression apprehensive. He studied her for a few seconds before turning his gaze to the door, eyebrows furrowed together. "Doesn't matter anyway, I don't know how to ride one."

So here they were. It was after lunchtime on possibly the hottest day of the year and Sabrina was about to teach an Everafter over 4000 years old the inter-workings of riding a bike. If someone had told Sabrina a couple of years ago that she'd be doing this for the boy, she would have laughed in their face. It didn't feel as strange as she hoped it would. A humid breeze blew in between them, and a horde of lights accompanied it, twittering excitedly. Puck look exasperated, digging in his pocket so fast Sabrina didn't realize what he was doing until she heard the shrill notes of Puck blowing into his flute.

"What are they doing here?" Sabrina questioned, as some of the pixies left the others to go float among her blonde strands. It was a habit they had adopted that Sabrina secretly enjoyed.

"They wanted to watch," Puck said between gritted teeth, as he put his flute away. The swarm of blinking lights made a collective noise that almost sounded like they were snickering.

"Then let's give them a show," Sabrina replied, taking hold of the helmet that was hanging on her bike by the handle. The girl offered it to the Everafter. He looked down at it like it personally offended him, before cocking his head away dismissively. "I don't need that. The only thing I put on my head is a crown."

Sabrina's eyes almost rolled back into her skull. "Wear it, I don't want to have to clean up your brains when you fall." She pushed the helmet into his chest and he pushed it right back. The pixies floated around each other in animated fashion, as they hoped a fight would break out between the pair.

After a third helmet shove from Puck, Sabrina let out an exasperated yell, flinging her hands up in the hair and in turn letting the helmet hit the ground.

"Fine! Don't wear it! Don't do anything, I'm done with this." Sabrina shouted at him, turning on her heel so fast she was surprised she didn't twist an ankle. She kicked the stand out from her bike and started the process of rolling it up the hill back to the house. Sweat dripped down her neck and her face was in a scowl. The heat was making her ill-tempered, and the last thing she wanted to be doing in it was argue with the Trickster King. He obviously didn't appreciate her help. Why was she even doing this?

Puck suddenly floated down in front of her to block her path. She was about to snap at him to move out of the way when she realized he was holding her shiny red helmet in his hands and his expression was conscience-stricken. He sighed and twisted the head gear in his hands before gently offering it to her.

"I'm sorry." Puck mumbled so low she almost couldn't hear him. He then added in a louder voice, "Can you just go first and show me or something?"

The pixies who has been twittering loudly suddenly went hushed at the sound of their leader's apology. Sabrina was also for a loss of words as she took the helmet from him and set it on her head and buckled the strap under her chin. Silently, Sabrina accepted his apology and spun her bicycle so it was facing down the hill and towards where the children had come and mounted it with one foot on the ground and the other set on a pedal.

"This is how you sit on it when it isn't moving," Sabrina explained and Puck nodded languidly, his hands behind his head but the fairy's green eyes showed his undivided attention to her. Sabrina shifted her weight towards the foot on the pedal.

"Now all you have to do is push off, watch my feet." The pedal dipped low under her weight and then her other foot joined the other on its own pedal. The gears spun and Sabrina was suddenly flying down the pavement, momentum from the hill making her long blonde hair whip out behind her. Puck took to the air as so did the pixies, showing more excitement on the surface than the Everafter, as they raced towards Sabrina who had now come to a stop on the road at the end of the hill. By now, Puck couldn't contain his fascination as he landed on the concrete. He smirked when Sabrina lazily rode in circles around him.

"Impressive toy, but imagine how cool it'd be to be shot out of a cannon on one." Puck fantasized devilishly as his minions twittered their agreement. Sabrina hopped off the bike and took off her helmet. She wasn't about to let him know that was actually a thing. Sabrina then handed her head gear to him with a look that told the fairy not to argue about it again. He let out a dramatic sigh and secured it to his head before eyeing the bike with an incredulous look.

"Learning to balance on it is the hardest thing," Sabrina admitted, wiping sweat off her brow. "The rest is a piece of cake."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Puck dismissed, grabbing the handles of the bicycle and mounting it quite pompously. Sabrina kicked the stand from out under it in a swift motion, and Puck and the bike toppled down on his side before he even had time to unleash his wings. The pixies chimed with delight at both Sabrina's antics and the misfortune of their leader.

* * *

An hour later, Sabrina was agitated but for once it was not with Puck. The sun was starting to dip in the sky, but it was still as sweltering as ever. After wiping her forehead on her t-shirt, Sabrina hooded her eyes with a hand to look once more towards the fairy, who was slowly but surely distancing himself from her on the bike. After his nasty crash from earlier, Puck was intent on not making a fool of himself again. His determination was paying off, as we was able to pedal a few times before having to set a foot down to balance himself before repeating again. At this rate, Sabrina was sure by the end of the day he'd already be popping wheelies.

The pixies floated by Sabrina, watching Puck with acute interest. At first, they wanted to swarm their leader while he was trying to ride before Puck had violently swatted at them, almost tipping himself over in the process. Now they settled to only watch from a safe distance.

"It's funny," Sabrina piped up, mostly speaking to herself than to the small lights next to her. "Someone with wings wanting to learn how to ride a bike. Seems like a downgrade." She glanced over to the small lights but they just twinkled, unusually silent. A yell from Puck suddenly startled Sabrina, and she turned her attention back towards him.

"Look!" Puck boasted confidently at her, as he zigzagged down the hot pavement. The boy was still trying to get used to using the handles to change direction, but he manged to turn himself so he was coming back in her direction. To Sabrina's amazement, he was pedaling successfully, not even pausing every few feet to balance himself anymore. The gears of the bike spun as the laces of Puck's usually untied shoes hit the concrete with every full rotation.

"You're doing it, stinkpot!" Sabrina cheered at him hands above her head, and the pixies flew erratically in their own special celebration. Puck was soaking up the praise like a sponge and let go of his handlebars to give his audience a pretentious flex. Sabrina cringed as she saw the front wheel and handlebars twist to the left without someone's balanced guidance.

"Watch out!" Sabrina hollered, and Puck's face contorted into almost comedic confusion before he realized what was happening. To Sabrina's relief he managed to jerk the handlebars to the right, but then the bike swerved right towards the family mailbox.

"Brake!" Sabrina shouted at him, but then she realized she had forgotten to teach how the boy how to use the brake trigger on the handles. At that moment, Puck's untied laces caught in the gears of the bike, right when he was going to try to halt himself the old fashioned way. A second later, the fairy boy collided with the mailbox with so much momentum it toppled over from its post along with Puck. Sabrina ran over to him and the pixies followed on her heels.

When Sabrina reached Puck he was rolling over onto his back, groaning. Both the mailbox and Sabrina's bike were in disarray next to him, but Sabrina barely noticed. She bent over him as he popped open an eye to look at her.

"Good thing you wore that helmet, huh?" Sabrina said, a bit nervously. She was unsure how the boy would react to her forgetting to teach him how to use one of the most important aspects of the bike. Sabrina felt a little guilty, too. If Puck would have gotten seriously hurt it would have been her fault.

Puck didn't reply, instead just closing his eye again as he starfished in the grass. Sabrina prepared for the worst, but the Everafter finally spoke up.

"That was _so_ awesome."

The little lights chirruped their agreement, and Sabrina straightened back up in relief and smirked. "Yeah, it _was_ kind of awesome seeing you flail like that."

Puck sat up, wiping his dirty hands on his already dirt encrusted jeans. "I'd do it again too, but I don't think the old lady as any more spare mailboxes lying around."

Sabrina took a seat in the lawn grass next to him and they sat in a comfortable silence for awhile before Sabrina spoke up.

"I was wondering why you wanted to learn how to ride it so much, you have wings." She looked up in the sky, the clouds looked even bigger than they did earlier. "You can go wherever you want now, especially since the barrier doesn't exist anymore."

Puck was quiet for a long moment and Sabrina was about to look over at him to see if he'd fallen asleep in the grass before he finally spoke.

"I'm growing up," the Everafter said in a weird tone Sabrina couldn't place. "I don't want to be some lame grown-up that doesn't even know how to ride a bike."

"That doesn't make someone lame," Sabrina quipped. She didn't want to address the other part of his answer. Over the years, the pair had become closer, something Sabrina would have never predicted. Their deep conversations were far in between, but when they did talk it mostly centered around their childhood trauma they both experienced together and individually. Sabrina felt solace in being able to talk about it with someone else other than Daphne, someone who was closer to her age. There was only so much she felt she should put on the little girl.

The fact that Puck was aging along with Sabrina wasn't something either one of them brought up. Sabrina was unsure what to say about it, and she didn't feel it'd be wise to bring up something that ultimately was the cause of her.

Puck shrugged. "Guess not. Riding a bike is fun though. It's kind of like flying in a way."

Sabrina nodded in agreement. She had laid in the grass, just like the boy next to her and was looking up at the sky. The sun beat down on the two children as they drifted into silence once again.

"Thanks for teaching me how to ride a bike, mosshead." Puck said quietly, as he turned his head to look at her.

"No problem, walnut brain." replied Sabrina casually. In reality, she was trying not to notice his piercing gaze on her.

"I have the greatest idea," Puck announced suddenly, and the pixies who had been floating around the children perked up at his words. A pixie who had settled himself on Sabrina's forehead started vibrating with excitement.

"The old lady might not have any more mailboxes, but I'm sure we can find some more to _accidentally_ destroy downtown. I heard that tights-wearing low-life Peter Pan is living down there now." Puck stretched and popped up, his wings flapping and a mischievous look in his green eyes. "Let's go give him a welcoming present."

Sabrina also arose with a small smile, wiping the grass off herself. "I'll chaperon, but if Granny finds out I'll say I didn't have any idea."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Puck started rising into the air, reaching for Sabrina's hand. Puck frowned when she ignored it and opted to pick up her bicycle instead.

"Don't worry," Sabrina reassured, snapping the helmet strap in place. "I'll ride this time."

* * *

The pair zipped down the gravel away from the small collection of buildings deemed downtown. Sabrina was seated on her bike, while Puck flew above the girl, his loyal army of lights following their wake. Sabrina's thighs were burning and the only thing she could hear besides the loud beating of Puck's wings and the wind whistling in her ears was faint sound of a police siren. Puck knocked on her helmet and Sabrina took her eyes off the racing path in front of her to look up at him and was met with a grin. He reached down and tried jerking her handlebars playfully, but Sabrina swerved away from him laughing. As the wind whipped past them, for the first time that day Sabrina no longer noticed the heat.


End file.
